The family of Tony Hsieh, the late chief executive of online shoe seller Zappos, declared that a mysterious will that surfaced earlier this year to be a "scam," saying forensic analysis shows the signatures are fake and that the document was not authored by Tony Hsieh.
In a court filing Monday in Clark County District Court, attorneys for Richard Hsieh, who has served as administrator of his son's estate since Tomy Hsieh's death, said the purported 2015 will is a fraudulent attempt to rewrite the distribution of an estate valued at roughly $500 million.
"Scams come in all shapes and sizes. In this case, the scam is in the form of a document being touted as the purported will of Anthony 'Tony' Hsieh," the filing said.
A forensic document expert compared the signatures on the contested will with nearly two dozen verified Tony Hsieh signatures and found "numerous unexplained differences" between them, according to court records.
The expert concluded it is "virtually certain that the same Anthony Hsieh who wrote the known signatures did not sign" the will.
The document first came to light earlier this year, more than four years after Hsieh's death in a Connecticut house fire in 2020 at age 46.
For years, his family maintained he died without a will, prompting Nevada courts to appoint his father as estate administrator.
The will was presented by a man identifying himself as Kashif Singh, who claimed to have found it among his late grandfather Pir Muhammad's belongings.
The document named Nevada attorney Robert Armstrong as a co-executor, though Armstrong has denied knowing Tony Hsieh or taking part in his estate planning.
Attorneys for the Hsieh family have said they have been unable to contact Singh despite repeated attempts by phone, letter, and email.
They also noted that details in the document appear questionable, including misspellings of Tony Hsieh's name and timing and location information that do not align with Tony Hsieh's known calendar records.
The filing also cited expert analysis suggesting the language of the document does not reflect the writing style of Tony Hsieh and likely was composed by individuals lacking legal training.
The contested will includes a no-contest clause warning that family members could be disinherited if they challenge the document, a provision that has compounded the stakes for relatives who say the document is illegitimate.
The legal battle over Tony Hsieh's estate has drawn intense scrutiny since the will surfaced. Earlier filings show Tony Hsieh's lawyers tried to locate witnesses listed in the document and verify the circumstances of its discovery, efforts that yielded few verifiable leads.
Tony Hsieh became a prominent figure in tech and downtown Las Vegas redevelopment as the longtime leader of Zappos, which he sold to Amazon.com in 2009 for about $1.2 billion.
At his death, he left no known formal estate plan, an unusual situation given his substantial wealth and high profile.
A hearing is set Thursday in Las Vegas where a judge will consider the family's objections and other procedural matters involving the contested will.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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